InputOutputHK, the company behind Cardano, posted an update in the early hours of September 13 and reported that the Alonzo update was successfully implemented, stating: “The Alonzo update is a momentous moment in the birth of a new ecosystem,” in a blog post celebrating the event on September 12th.
The update introduces smart contract functionality through the Plutus language on the Cardano blockchain. IOHK stated that this is only the beginning of what it has been trying to achieve.
"This is where mission really begins when we - the whole community - begin to realize the vision that we have all worked for so long."
Cardano plays chase
While it is a great achievement for the network, it is still operating largely in the shadow of Ethereum, which is the industry standard for smart contracts and dApps, despite the high cost of use.
Cardano is looking to become a powerhouse in decentralized finance with the technological upgrade. “By allowing Plutus scripts to be written and executed on-chain, we will have the backbone for a new decentralized application platform, which will enable numerous use cases for dApps and decentralized finance (DeFi),” he said.
He added that 150 projects are developing concepts on Cardano's Project Catalyst innovation program and about 800 projects have applied for $ 4 million in funding.
There was a caveat, however, as Cardano warned of early problems and malfunctioning dApps that are still largely experimental. "Inevitably, we too can expect bad actors trying to take advantage of hacks, exploits and the like," he added.
Last month Weiss Crypto made some ferocious comments about Cardano's regulatory compliance, something that could have led to the network becoming more centralized.
ADA drops 12%
The frenzy to launch this update gave ADA a huge boost by pushing the token to third place on the charts by market cap with an all-time high of just over $ 3 earlier this month.
Now that Alonzo is live, FOMO has dropped and ADA has been hugely successful in the past few days or so. At the time of writing, ADA has lost 12% from Sunday's high of $ 2,77 to $ 2,44 according to CoinGecko. quotation in real time).
Holders of the token were already expressing contempt for the price action, but a pullback is to be expected after such a broad bull run. ADA is currently down 21% from its all-time high, which is far better than most other large-cap crypto assets.
